Rødhåd - Anxious

Rødhåd - Anxious
Rødhåd dons what looks like black metal corpse paint on the cover of Anxious, the first sign that there's something dramatic happening here. Indeed, for his debut album, the Berlin artist looks beyond his heady and hypnotic style of techno towards something bigger and more theatrical. Anxious rearranges techno tropes—brooding basslines, anvil-sized kick drums—into cinematic soundscapes. Opener "Unleash" has shades of The Alan Parsons Project's "Sirius," the classic instrumental that was used as the theme for the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls. And like that '80s prog rock oddity, the synth tones that Rødhåd employs on "Unleash" are lush and detailed, but the ominous bassline is a little too on-the-nose.

The same goes for "Escape," which introduces the LP's first 4/4 kick pattern. It's as claustrophobic as any modern techno, though the bleating, John Carpenter-like organ marrs the shadowy atmosphere Rødhåd strives for. At its best, the LP's rich palette of blacks and greys is more engrossing than that of most of Rødhåd's contemporaries. "Left Behind," the sort of loopy techno track for which he's known, is boosted by drone textures and rasping chords. The Vril-assisted "Target Line" is one of Rødhåd's heaviest techno tracks yet.

Rødhåd has adjusted to the album format without departing drastically from his established sound. He breaks up the LP's techno with experiments like "Withheld Walk," one of the finest examples of the close, tense mood he's going for. Its Michael Bay-like horn blasts hover at the edge of taste, but it's as entertaining as the action movie it could soundtrack. Anxious is one of the year's most epic techno albums, but it often lacks the tension and subtlety that made Rødhåd one of the genre's rising stars in the first place.

More on Rødhåd

Rødhåd has been socialized by Berlin's looptechno nights and always finds the perfect balance of timeless techno to lift the dancefloor higher and higher. His style is always deep, powerful and melancholic - from dub to techno and back to house.
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